The Isles Of Greece

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 109, 10 May 1941, Page 1 (Supplement)

The Isles Of Greece

AROUND the far-famed isles of Greece, belo'ved of Byron, aeroplanes are circling and warships are enforcing a blockade. The islands that appear particularly in the news form a group off the coast of Asia Minor known as the Dodecanese a name signifying that there are 12 of them, though some people include 13 or even 1 4 islands. The normal population of the islands is around 135,000 and is almost wholly Greek. The area is 981, square miles. Much the largest of these insular mountains is Rhodes, with an area of 450 miles and elevations rising to 4070 ft. In pre-Christian times the wealth of Rhodes, with its abundant fruits, was fabulous. Here rose the Colossus, 105 ft high— a statue of the Sun God, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

Other islands of the group have been scarcely less famous. One of them, Cos, was the seat of a medical school where Hippocrates studied—he whose professional oath is sworn by doctors and nurses to this day. Patmos is the isle of seclusion where St. John the Divine wrote the Apocalypse. Around the islands have surged all the wars that have raged within the Mediterranean since the dawn of history. Rhodes has been occupied by Persians, Romans, Venetians, Crusaders and Turks. The occupation of the islands by Italy has been continuous since the year 1912. Turkey previously had owned the islands, but she hsd. been greatly weakened by the Balkan wars and by the collapse of the Sultanate. Italy—then aspiring to territory in Asia Minor—took the opportunity of seizing the islands, but promised to evacuate them as soon as the Turks left Libya, which province also was conquered by the Italians. The pledge wa&jtot kept and the islands x£nrtaeri£fc»* Ratio* baflds.